CHAPTER XVII. Preble then sailed for Tripoli; but, before his arrival, a serious accident had occurred. The Philadelphia, pro1803. ceeding thither, had recommenced the blockade of that port, but while standing close in shore, under a heavy press of sail, in pursuit of a vessel attempting to enter Oct. 31. the harbor, had run with great force upon a sunken rock, upon which, in spite of all efforts to set her free, she remained immovably fixed. While her crew were engaged in attempts to get her off, she was attacked by a flotilla of Tripolitan gun-boats, and as she lay much upon one side, they easily took a position in which not a gun of the frigate could be brought to bear upon them. Most of the guns were thrown overboard, and her anchors and foremast were cut away, but still she remained fast. Holes were then bored in her bottom and her pumps choked, after which, having stood the fire of the gunboats all day, Bainbridge submitted to the disagreeable necessity of striking his flag. The Tripolitans, after great exertions, no American cruiser being there to molest them, succeeded in getting off the Philadelphia and towing her into the harbor. In Bainbridge and his crew of three hundred men, they held valuable prisoners for whom to demand ransom. The officers were treated with comparative indulgence, but the men were all reduced to slavery. Oct. 17. In the new Congress, called together by proclamation, the administration, strong enough before, had large acces sions. In the Senate the Federalists had but nine members against twenty-five. Tracy and Hillhouse still represented Connecticut. Sheafe, of New Hampshire had been succeeded by William Plumer. In place of the late senators from Massachusetts came Timothy Picker ing and John Quincy Adams, representing the two sec XVII. tions of the Federal party in that state. Since his re- CHAPTER turn from abroad, John Quincy Adams had opened a law-office in Boston. Both he and Pickering had been 1803. brought forward at the late election as candidates for the House of Representatives, but had been beaten, though by very small majorities, Pickering by Crowninshield, and Adams by Eustis. Besides the six Federal senators from these states, there were two from Delaware, and one (Dayton) from New Jersey. The administration had all the rest, including those from Rhode Island and Vermont, and those also from the new State of Ohio. The leading members on that side were De Witt Clinton, of New York, who resigned early in the session in order to accept the office of mayor of New York, being succeeded by Armstrong, lately his predecessor; Logan, of Pennsylvania; Samuel Smith, of Maryland, so long an active member of the other house; Wilson C. Nicholas, of Virginia; Sumter, of South Carolina; Baldwin and Jackson, of Georgia; and Breckenridge, of Kentucky. In the other house the majority was not less overwhelming. The new apportionment, by increasing the number of backwoods members both positively and relatively, had increased, at the same time, the administration majority. The five representatives from New Hampshire and the seven from Connecticut were all Federalists, also two of the four from Vermont, and ten out of the seventeen from Massachusetts. Out of the seventeen members from the State of New York, there were five Federalists, including Joshua Sands, the ex-collector, chosen as one of the two members to which, under the new apportionment, the city became entitled. From Maryland there were three Federalists out of nine; from Virginia, four out of twenty-two; from North Carolina, one out of twelve; from South Carolina, two out of CHAPTER eight-in all thirty-nine, while the administration had XVII. ninety-six, raised presently to one hundred and two by 1803. the members from New Jersey, whose election, on account of the expiration of the state law to regulate it, did not take place till near the end of the year. Bayard, the late leader of the Federalists, had lost his election, being defeated by Cæsar A. Rodney, nephew of Cæsar Rodney of the Revolution. Griswold, Dana, Davenport, and John Cotton Smith, of Connecticut, still retained their seats, and were the leading members on the Federal side. Of old Democratic members there were Varnum and Eustis, of Massachusetts; Dr. Mitchell, of New York; Leib, Gregg, Smilie, and Findley, of Pennsylvania; Nicholson, of Maryland; John Randolph, of Virginia; Macon, of North Carolina. Matthew Lyon, late of Vermont, now also re-appeared as a representative from Kentucky. Among the new members on that side were James Elliot, of Vermont; Jacob Crowninshield, of Massachusetts, from the Salem district-both the Boston and the Salem districts being now represented by Republicans; Oliver Phelps, the noted land speculator, and Erastus Root, of New York; James Sloan, of New Jersey; Joseph Clay, representing with Leib, the city and county of Philadelphia; and from Virginia, John W. Eppes and Thomas M. Randolph, sons-in-law of the president. Of the whole House considerably more than half were new members. Macon was chosen speaker, most of the Federalists, and some of the Northern Republicans, voting for Varnum. The chief subject of the president's message was the cession of Louisiana. In announcing the recommencement of war between France and England, a determination was avowed to preserve the strictest neutrality. The treaty and conventions with France were imme XVII. diately laid before the Senate, and after two days' dis- CHAPTER cussion, their ratification was advised by that body. Of the Federal senators, only Dayton voted for it. John Q. 1803. Adams had not yet taken his seat. Bonaparte's ratifica- Oct. 20. tion was already in the hands of Pichon, the French chargé des affaires, and, the ratifications being exchanged, the bargain became complete. The ratified conventions. were immediately communicated to the House for consideration in their legislative capacity, with an intimation from the president that the co-operation of the House was needed to carry them into effect, and that time pressed for instant action. Griswold moved a call upon the president for a copy of the treaty between Spain and France upon which the title of France depended, and for any evidence he might have that Spain, in whose hands the ceded district still remained, was ready to deliver it over. Griswold urged that the treaty before the House recited only a provisional agreement on the part of Spain to cede Louisiana to France. There was no evidence that the cession had really taken place. Griswold's motion having failed by a majority of two votes, Randolph offered a resolution that provision ought to be made for carrying the treaty and conventions into effect. Upon this resolution a spirited debate arose. The Federalists denied any authority under the Constitution for receiv ing into the Union, whether by treaty or otherwise, a foreign people. They also criticised the special provisions as to the trade of France and Spain with Louisiana, as introducing an unconstitutional discrimination. between different parts of the Union. The constitutionality of the treaty was zealously sustained by Randolph and others; but the question as to the power of Congress to vote money for the purchase was not mooted. It did not lay in the mouths of the Federalists to deny that XVII. Oct. 25 CHAPTER power, and the Democratic leaders thought it best to keep their doubts to themselves. The resolution was 1803. adopted ninety to twenty-five, and the necessary bills were speedily passed. Nothing was ever said about any amendment of the Constitution to sanction this proceeding; and Jefferson's silence on that head must be considered as amounting to a recantation of the doctrine he had so zealously maintained against Hamilton-a recantation in which the whole Republican party joined, and which they reiterated by many subsequent votes. An act, originating in the Senate while the House was debating Randolph's resolution, authorized the president to take possession of the ceded territory, and to employ for that purpose the army of the United States, and such portions of the militia as might be found necessary. He was also authorized, till Congress should otherwise provide, to vest in such person as he might appoint all the authority appertaining, under the Spanish laws, to the officers of government, to be exercised under the June 16. president's direction, for maintaining the inhabitants in their freedom, property, and religion. A second act, originating in the House, authorized the creation of the stocks to be given to France, and appropriated toward the interest and principal an annual sum of $700,000, thus raising the annual appropriation for the public debt to eight millions. A third act appropriated toward paying the merchants' claim the two millions voted at the last session toward the purchase of New Orleans, the remainder to be raised by a temporary loan. Simultaneously with this provision for the claimants against the French government, the commissioners on illegal captures, sitting under the British treaty—the temporary articles of which just now expired-closed their labors, having awarded to American merchants about |